Chosen for a Special Joy: The Story of Ted and Ruth Andrianoff

By Jean L. Andrianoff

In July 1947, Ted and Ruth Andrianoff and their two small children boarded a troop ship bound for Southeast Asia. Today, Hmong Christians around the world trace their spiritual geneology to the rebirth of the first convert in Xieng Khouang Province in 1950 and to the couple whose willing obedience allowed them to experience God's spectacular power.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Moody Publishers
• Release date: Jan 1, 2001
• ISBN: 9781600669606

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Introduction

Xieng Khouang, Laos. Moua Yia stepped over the threshold onto the earthen floor of his father’s darkened house. Though the sun had not yet set, no light penetrated the roughly hewn plank walls. Even the last rays of daylight spilling into the doorway could not compete with the black smoke from the fire that curled lazily around and competed for passage through the only opening in the room.

In the shadows, on a wooden pallet just under the spirit altar, lay the form of an emaciated old man. The jaws of well over a dozen pigs covered the wall beside the altar, their quantity indicating the man’s popularity as a village shaman.¹ Each set of jaws represented one pig he had sacrificed to cure an illness or drive away bad spirits.

On a rough bench near the altar sat four small bowls of tea beside four candles. This was the day Moua Yia’s father would conduct the ceremony designating him as his successor. The young man had known this day would come ever since he had experienced the dream in which he had seen his father’s neng (spirit). The neng had spoken to him, telling him that he had been chosen to become the shaman in his father’s place and that he would possess an even greater measure of power and prestige than his father had.

Moua Yia had expected his father to express great pleasure when he reported his dream. Instead, the older man displayed mixed emotions, confessing to his son that he hoped his spirit powers would pass to someone outside the family. The wealth and power of his position were somewhat gratifying, he explained, but such prestige hardly balanced the obligations of fulfilling the exhausting demands of the spirit. He confessed that he often longed for the arrival of the deliverer spoken of in some of the elders’ stories and for the true God, the God of creation, to reveal Himself to them as He had promised through Hmong legend.

But, the old man continued, we have no choice in these matters. The spirits have chosen you. You must obey. Until the true God is revealed to us, we are to appease the demons.

Moua Yia sat down on a low stool as one of his father’s assistants began the rhythmic beating of a gong. Another took up the incessant clattering of a metal rattle. Moua Yia placed a black covering on his head and let the flaps fall over his face. Before long, as he submitted himself to the inevitability of his calling, his body began to shake uncontrollably. Soon he fell into a trance and came under the power of the malevolent spirit who had so long dominated his father’s life.

Cleveland, Ohio. Twelve-year-old Ruth Engstrom sat between her father and mother as Rev. Cummins completed his Sunday evening sermon and announced the closing hymn. Along with the rest of the congregation, she stood to sing the final hymn. Slowly and silently the words of the song began to penetrate her heart: When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more.

She had often heard Rev. Cummins speak of the soon but unpredictable return of the Lord. What if the trumpet of the Lord would sound that night? Would she be ready to meet Him? And what about those who had never heard the name of the Lord, those she had heard about in the church’s annual missionary conventions, those enslaved by bondage to the forces of darkness? It seemed that God was speaking directly to her, asking, "When the roll is called, Ruth, will you be there?"

With her heart beating wildly, the girl brushed past her mother, walked to the front of the church and knelt to surrender her heart to God. She saw her sinfulness in God’s eyes and confessed her need for forgiveness. As she prayed, God gave her the assurance that not only had He forgiven her and that she was ready to meet Him, but that He was also calling her to be a missionary.

Back in the pew, Ruth’s mother sat with bowed head, tears pouring down her cheeks. The tears were primarily ones of joy, joy that her daughter had made this commitment. She understood that should Ruth follow through on her desire to be a missionary, it would mean a painful separation. That would demand a commitment on her part as well—a commitment to be willing to surrender her only daughter to the tremendous privilege of being chosen by God to reach the lost.

Pine Hill, New Jersey. At eleven years old, Ted was already taller than his four-foot-ten-inch mother; still, he knew better than to cross her. He hadn’t really felt like going to Sunday school this morning, but Mother stood firm.

You want to talk English like me when you grow up, she asked, with people hardly understanding you? You go to Sunday school now and learn to be good American. Mrs. Johnson give us good advice that you learn many things there.

Ted slicked down his hair and ran out the door after his sisters who were already well ahead of him. At the church, he slid into a seat beside Nadia, who glared at him for his tardiness.

Please open your Bibles to John 15:16, the teacher said. She began to read: You did not choose me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.

Luang Prabang, Laos. Canadian Alliance missionary Ed Roffe read to his young wife from the Official Bulletin of the Royal Court: By Royal Ordinance of the 9th of June 1931, His Majesty Sisavang Vong has authorized Mr. Roffe to evangelize in the Kingdom of Luang Prabang.

Thelma, he exclaimed, do you realize that this is what we’ve been waiting for ever since we came here two years ago? This authorizes us to do unlimited evangelistic work throughout the length of the realm. The doors to Laos are open!

Thus, in 1931, in places as far removed from each other as Cleveland, Ohio and Xieng Khouang, Laos, Pine Hill, New Jersey and Luang Prabang, Laos, God was bringing together the pieces of an eternal plan He had in mind for a special working of His Spirit. But our view of the story actually begins a bit earlier, in 1924, with a small girl learning her first lessons of obedience and grace back in Cleveland.

Endnote

1. A shaman is said to be able to communicate with the spirits. He is sometimes called a witch doctor or sorcerer. Such a man or woman has a great deal of power in Hmong society. The Hmong traditionally believe that one or more spirits inhabit the shaman, giving him the ability to communicate with the spirit world. They also believe that he can determine the meaning of dreams, cure the sick and predict the future.

1

A Kiss on the Hillside

Five-year-old Ruthie’s dark blond hair, bobbed to just below her ears, bounced in time to the tune she was softly humming. All morning she had played her favorite song, Lazy Mary, Will You Get Up? on the record player she had been given last Christmas. But this particular afternoon, Mum had forbidden her to play the song anymore and had sent her outside to find something to do in the warm spring sunshine. But even as Ruthie tried to turn her attention to other things, the melody played over and over in her head and spilled out into a happy hum.

Ted, her eight-year-old brother, was racing his bicycle up and down the street, followed by a trail of admiring neighborhood children. Sometimes he gave Ruthie rides on the handlebars, but today was not one of those days.

Crayons in hand, Ruthie decided to decorate the slate stepping stones that led to the two-story frame house on Cleveland’s Sciota Street. How she enjoyed streaking those bright colors across the stones! Even though her favorite color, red, was almost used up, she decided to use the tiny stump to complete the last stone.

Suddenly, a shadow fell across her busy hand. Mother was standing over her. Ruthie knew her look meant trouble.

Wait until your dad sees this! The words pulsated in her ears as she collected the crayons and marched back into the house.

Since Mum was usually the one who handed out punishment, Ruthie concluded that coloring the stepping stones must be very serious if it had to wait for Dad to get home from work. Dad punished only rarely, but when he did it was for something very serious. She had learned that the hard way the previous year.

On that day, she had overheard a back-fence conversation between her mother and the next-door neighbor. The neighbor had the habit of using the Lord’s name in every sentence or two. Although that was not what Ruthie was accustomed to hearing, one day she decided to impress her father with her new vocabulary. She hadn’t spoken more than two sentences when she received a strong slap on the face. Dad explained that God’s name was holy and should be used carefully and with reverence. That was the first—and last—time that David Engstrom would slap his daughter.

Now, however, as she gathered up her crayons and walked slowly back into the house, she wondered what Dad would say about her sidewalk art. Was this one of those things that would mean a long lecture, maybe even followed by a spanking …?

It seemed like hours until Mum called the family to supper. Ruthie bowed her head slightly as she took her place at the table beside Ted. Dad prayed, and the family began to eat. Ruthie’s heart beat wildly as she waited for someone to say something about the coloring, but Mum was busy feeding baby Glen, and Dad seemed preoccupied with his upcoming Sunday sermon. Though not a professional pastor, David Engstrom was a popular lay preacher who was often asked to minister in various Cleveland churches.

When the meal was over, Ruthie went back to her room. All evening she waited, but Dad said nothing. After Mum tucked her into bed, she lay awake for a long time listening to the murmur of her parents’ voices as they sat at the breakfast nook drinking their evening coffee and discussing the events of the day. Finally, she drifted off to sleep.

The next afternoon, Dad came home from work carrying a small package. He sat down on the porch steps and called Ruthie to come sit beside him. Pulling a box of beautiful new crayons from the bag, he said, Rufus, these are yours if you will promise to use them only on paper. Ruthie nodded solemnly. The promise was never broken.

During those years, the United States entered the era known as the Great Depression. Factories and businesses by the hundreds closed down, and many men lost their jobs because of the financial hard times. Sometimes this was hardest on those who had once been wealthy. Many committed suicide because they could not stand the thought of being unable to provide for their families.

Ruth’s dad was without work for two years. During that time, her mother supported the family by working as a masseuse at The May Company, one of Cleveland’s best department stores. The Engstroms felt, as did many families, that having to accept welfare from the government would be a great disgrace. Instead, they economized wherever possible, often eating meals of corn bread or cornmeal mush and beans, and salvaging hand-me-downs to create coats and jackets for Ruth and her three brothers.

A steady stream of tramps also visited the Engstrom home, and though money for food was scarce, those men never left without a meal and an extra sandwich in their pocket for the next one.

Occasionally the Engstroms escaped the summer heat of the city by spending a week or two at Beulah Beach Bible Camp on Lake Erie where they owned a small cottage. Days were filled with swimming, building sand castles and attending meetings in the big tabernacle, creating memories that Ruth cherished for years to come.

One particular day, Ruth and her brother Glen argued incessantly. Finally, Mum had had enough. She sat the antagonists down on the cottage steps and told them they must sit with their arms around each other for thirty minutes. Those thirty minutes seemed like an eternity. Even though they grew to enjoy one another in later years, Ruth and Glen never forgot the agony of that awful half hour—the longest thirty minutes of their lives.

Back in Cleveland, the family returned to the weekly routine of Wednesday evening prayer meetings, Sunday school, youth meetings and Sunday morning and evening worship services at The Christian and Missionary Alliance Church on East 120th Street. They all looked forward to the church’s annual missionary conventions. Visiting missionaries often stayed in the Engstrom home, fascinating the children with stories of distant lands.

Thus, it was no great surprise to anyone when Ruth went forward to dedicate her life to that purpose when she was twelve years old. Though she was the only one who actually ended up living overseas, big brother Ted ultimately had a significant impact on God’s work around the world through his leadership at World Vision International.

As a teenager, Ruth felt no reluctance about expressing her feelings and opinions in the warm safety of home, yet she felt painfully shy and insecure away from that environment. It didn’t help that as a ninth grader she was the shortest person in the whole junior high! Talkative and animated at home, she became withdrawn at school and desperately concentrated on not doing anything that would call attention to herself.

After high school graduation, Ruth began to work as a nurse’s aide at Rainbow Children’s Hospital in Euclid, Ohio. Before long, she had been chosen over all the other aides for the coveted job of assistant to the physical therapist. Then she was offered the opportunity to study to become a licensed practical nurse. But she had not forgotten God’s call to serve Him overseas. In order to prepare to do that, she turned down the offer, and in January of 1939 enrolled in the Missionary Training Institute (MTI) in Nyack, New York.

On a bright September day in 1941, Ruth breathed in the crisp fall air as she left the dorm and walked briskly up the hill to the North Side Dining Room. A few gold and crimson leaves peeked through the masses of green, hinting at the brilliance of color that would soon paint the hillside far above the Hudson River. A trace of sadness passed like a shadow over her heart. This would be her last fall at MTI. She had learned so much and enjoyed so many happy times with friends.

There had even been a few romantic interludes here and there, but tonight was the first meal of her senior year. Ruth was determined not to become romantically involved with anyone, but to pour her heart, mind and soul into her preparation for missionary service.

As she entered the dining hall and found her place, Ruth discovered that she knew only one person at her assigned table, Miss Stanhope, the dean of women. However, after the meal had started, a tall blue-eyed blond freshman slipped as inconspicuously as possible into the vacant seat across the table. With the prompting of Miss Stanhope, he introduced himself as Ted Andrianoff from Pine Hill, New Jersey.

Despite Ruth’s desperate efforts to remind herself of her resolve not to allow her heart to become romantically entangled, during the meal she found herself increasingly intrigued by the man across the table. While he appeared somewhat shy, Ted was friendly and contributed interesting and friendly comments to the dinner conversation. Ruth found herself attracted to this stranger and quietly questioned what good resolutions were if she could be so easily tempted to break them.

Although she did not know it then, the feelings were mutual. Unknown to Ruth, Ted went to his dorm after dinner and told his roommate, "I believe I have met the

Reviews for Chosen for a Special Joy

[T V · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A beautiful book, written by beautiful people of God. They humbled themselves to serve God willingly, even through the most suffering and turmoil. They revealed Gods greatest gift to all mankind; The Lord Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of all our sins. As scripture says: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”